Feeding Day - Amounts

I fed all the big kids and the larger of the slings last night. I got 6 small crickets (got 5½, it seemed). They cost 10¢ each. I fed:

Lasiodora difficilis (Brazilian Fire Red) - both got 2 small crickets. 1 of the crickets was mostly dead

Poecilotheria regalis (Indian Ornamental) - 1 small cricket for the first time, this little T did just fine with it

I think we might get a full dozen small crickets next time. I have one or two more babies that are just big enough to handle small crickets.

I also bought 24 large crickets. They cost 11¢ each. What I actually brought home was 69 live and 1 dead large cricket! I fed:

Moving Day - Chaco Golden Knee Tarantulas

I hate the tiny little cups that hold the Chaco Golden Knees. I'm thankful to have gotten the tarantulas, but don't like the cups or the substrate. That dirt doesn't hold moisture well at all! So today I rounded up a couple of these new containers I like and got them packed down with plenty of new dirt.

New & Old Habitats
Grammostola pulchripes
Chaco Golden Knee

Once I got them moved,

Moving / Feeding Day - Curly Hair Tarantula

After that last molt, I noticed that Señor Fuzzy Britches really outgrew his cage. I mean he FIT of course, but he needed more "leg room" (hahaha, I crack myself up!). This weekend I finally picked up the next size cage. I specifically went for All Living Things® Critter Totes. The lids are much easier to remove and replace. The other brand we got are very stiff. The new one is a Medium.

I packed in plenty of dirt. Then I carefully spooned out some of his old dirt, moving the top layer off first. I topped the new habitat with it. All the while, I was keeping him from coming completely out of his cage. SFB is a very calm specimen. I was easily able to pick it up and move it to the new cage. I left him in it for about an hour before feeding him. He has much more room now! And he had no trouble with the crickets I gave him.

This photo doesn't show how much space he has, but at least it is a new photo, right?!

Señor Fuzzy Britches
in New Home
Brachypelma albopilosum
Curly Hair

Chaco Golden Knee Tarantula

I don't even remember now what got me looking into this, but I was googling for info on Chaco Golden Knee Tarantulas. I started with a search for Grammastola aureostriatum, which is how I have the tarantulas listed on our About page. I noticed, though, that Google suggested Grammostola aureostriata instead. Minor typo? There are lots of sites with one or the other spelling. Then I noticed that the wiki article actually said this name was old. The species has had a change to taxonomic placement (in 2009!). You can see this mentioned on the British Tarantula Society Forum and also mentioned on the wiki page for Chaco Golden Knee Tarantula.

Sooo, I am changing the name on our pages. It will now be properly referenced as Grammostola pulchripes.

Tiny

Our Acanthoscurria geniculata (Brazilian Whiteknee) is one of the Ts we got from our friendly breeder that works with Elmo (and previously me as well). Elmo has named it Tiny. We've enjoyed watching the tiny lil sling wrestle with small meal worms for dinner. After a recent molt, I had decided the vial in which it arrived was a bit cramped. So I finally got it re-housed in a larger container last night.

Acanthoscurria geniculata
Brazilian Whiteknee
"Tiny" in a new home

This is a 2 ounce plastic dish in which seasonings are sold at a local Farmer's Market. It has all kinds of room now! I'm giving it a couple of days to get comfortable before feeding it.

Elmo thought I might have a hard time getting Tiny transferred, but thanks to my handy-dandy paint brush, it was no problem!